Friday

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — I’ve worked across the street from the Ohio Statehouse for nearly 30 years, and I have grown to love walking through the beautiful and historic building from time to time.

Perhaps that’s why, when I travel to another state-capital city, I always try to visit the capitol building.

I’ve been to about 30 of them. People sometimes ask me which is the prettiest. That’s a tough question, “pretty” being in the eye of the beholder. But if you ask which is the most ornate, then I have a new answer: the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, a Beaux Arts beauty that I visited for the first time earlier this month.

Philadelphia architect Joseph Huston designed the capitol and, working with tax dollars, naturally spent three times more than was budgeted. Huston was later convicted of fraud, but it’s easy to see why the structure might cost $13 million to build, even a century ago.

No less a personage than President Theodore Roosevelt declared it “the handsomest building I ever saw” at the dedication ceremony in 1906.

From the outside, the traditional dome and Romanesque columns are standard stuff — although the lovely green roof tiles, made in Ohio, add a touch of distinction, as do the sculptures by George Grey Barnard that flank the main doors. The sculptures, 27 life-sized nude human figures, are allegories for following or ignoring the law.

But what sets the Pennsylvania Capitol apart is what a visitor sees when stepping inside — a grand rotunda with marble staircases and bannisters inspired by the Paris Opera House. Encircling the rotunda are eight huge and colorful murals by Philadelphia artist Edwin Austin Abbey that pay tribute to the state’s history, illuminated by 48 portholes in the 272-foot-tall dome above.

The floor of the rotunda is a folk-art mosaic of colorful Moravian tiles depicting the state’s history and industry, and its animals, from the elk to the house fly (no, really).

The rotunda, as grand as it is, is put to shame by the Senate, House and Supreme Court chambers. Grand murals, gold-leaf trim, huge brass chandeliers and stained-glass windows are everywhere.

The Supreme Court’s exquisite stained-glass dome ceiling, green with subtle shadings reminiscent of Tiffany, was one of my favorite details.

And I could have spent at least an hour studying the building’s largest artwork, “The Apotheosis of Pennsylvania.” The 1,200-square-foot mural, located behind the Speaker’s podium in the House Chamber, depicts 28 prominent Pennsylvanians in the setting of a Greek temple, with William Penn, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris at the center.

Although I found myself wanting to linger at each new artwork or architectural flourish, my tour, alas, lasted less than an hour.

Too bad the building isn’t across the street from my office.

To learn more about the Pennsylvania Capitol Building or to book a free tour, call 1-800-868-7672 or visit www.pacapitol.com.— Steve Stephens can be reached at sstephens@dispatch.com or on Twitter @SteveStephens.